EL DORADO — It’s a hollow feeling playing in a seventh-place game of a midseason tournament, the final day of a three-day trip away from home.
But the Great Bend High School Panthers made the most of it Saturday afternoon at the 2012 Bluestem Classic, coming up with one of their best defensive performances of the season in bottling up Wichita’s Haysville-Campus 45-31.
The win snapped a three-game Great Bend losing streak and took away some of the disappointment of narrow losses the previous two days to Wichita Kapaun-Mt. Carmel and Wichita Trinity Academy.
“We had two tough losses, when it boils down to it, and we were able to battle back and do the things we do,” Great Bend head coach Chris Battin said.
The Panthers (3-9) used swarming man-to-man full-court pressure throughout, getting some transition points off turnovers while not allowing Campus (3-9) more than nine points in any one quarter.
“We played much better defensively and had the right attitude of letting our defense fuel our offense instead of vice versa,” Battin said. “I thought our kids played extremely hard.
“We were playing a lot of kids because we were playing harder and when you play hard, you should have to play more kids. That’s kind of a good thing for us, when you’re able to expend some energy, and we got into their legs a little bit, especially in the fourth quarter where we had some key steals at some key moments. They were tired and we were fresh, really.”
Great Bend built a 21-15 lead at halftime after a low-scoring first half, and extended their lead to 32-22 after three periods. The Panthers outscored Campus 13-9 during the final eight minutes, where they converted 5 of 8 free throws and finished the game 10 for 16 at the line.
Jace Bowman, a 6-foot-3 senior swingman, scored a game-high 11 points, which included making all five foul shots. Matt Marshall, a 5-10 junior guard added nine points, including a 3-pointer, and Connor Sell, a 5-9 senior guard, added seven points, including a 3.
“All of our kids stepped up and it was nice to see everybody bounce back and contribute the way they contribute. We had a lot of guys that contributed things that won’t show up in the boxscore and that’s always nice to see.
“We had people step up and accept their roles today.”
Great Bend travels to Larned for a non-conference game on Tuesday.

                                                                                                                        — Mack McClure

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
2012 Bluestem Classic

At El Dorado
El Dorado High School

BOYS

Saturday
Seventh place

Great Bend 45,
Wichita Campus 31
GREAT BEND (3-9)
     Connor Sell 3 0-0 7, Matt Marshall 3 2-2 9, Chad Touslee 2 1-2 5, Brock Ibarra 0 1-2 1, Bryce Beck 1 0-0 2, Johnny Allende 0 0-0 0, Gabe Joiner 2 0-0 5, Jace Bowman 3 5-5 11, Ethan Henderson 2 0-2 4, Blaise Cain 1 0-0 3, Wyatt Bayless 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 10-16 45.
WICHITA CAMPUS (3-9)
     Chris Kelly 1 0-0 3, Marcus Saucedo 4 0-0 10, Jacob Pike 1 0-0 2, Kellen Schutt 1 0-1 2, Austin Vaden 1 3-4 5, Josh Strotkamp 0 0-0 0, Brandon Darbyshore 0 0-0 0, Gabe Chavez 0 2-2 2, Blake Myers 0 0-0 0, Stef Kuipar 1 5-7 7. Totals 9 10-14 31.
Great Bend     11  10  11  13  —  45
Campus           6    9     7    9  —  31
    Three-point goals — Great Bend 3 (Marshall, Sell, Cain; Campus 3 (Saucedo 2, Kelly). Total fouls — Campus 20, Great Bend 19. Fouled out — None.